October 5, 2021
Virtual Tabletop Exercises
In August, UW Emergency Management and UW Intercollegiate Athletics partnered to deliver the annual UW Football tabletop exercise. This exercise has been a standing tabletop exercise for a number of years, providing upper campus departments and external stakeholders the opportunity to collaborate and test pre-existing plans relating to a UW football home game. In previous years, we have gathered in-person in spacious conference rooms, or other large rooms to conduct this exercise. However, the pandemic made an in-person gathering a non-option.
With an in-person gathering being a non-option, the UWEM and UW ICA collaborated to host the annual exercise virtually for the first time at the UW. The exercise was a 3-hour long exercise comprised of upper campus departments, UW ICA, UW Medicine, nd numerous external stakeholders. Post-exercise survey’s and other indicators noted that this exercise was highly effective and lauded throughout all of the exercise participants.
HSEEP Exercise Cycle
UW Emergency Management provided a presentation on the to the UW Emergency Readiness Committee. During this presentation, there was a large amount of interest in departments being participants in a virtual exercise due to the convenience, reduced logistics dedications, accessibility of exercise documents, and with what post-pandemic work looks like for departments. While internal documents for virtual exercise best practices is being developed, we would like to pass on these extremely well done documents for virtual exercises by FEMA.
This virtual exercise did not conclude at the tabletop portion. Virtual collaboration was utilized to comprise the After-Action/Improvement Plan from the exercise.
UW Emergency Management looks forward to leveraging virtual exercises in the future! If your department is interested in planning a virtual exercise, please reach out to us at disaster@uw.edu.
Virtual Exercise Documents
Virtual Exercise Best Practice